Flames Are Positioned For A Busy Offseason
The Calgary Flames could be one of the NHL’s most fascinating teams this summer, as they remain among the few teams firmly entrenched in a rebuild. What makes Calgary unique is not that they’re rebuilding, but where they are in the process. They are in a position to accelerate their timeline over the next 12-18 months through shrewd trades involving their remaining veterans, a process general manager Craig Conroy has been pursuing over the past few years, moving out older veterans while stockpiling draft picks, prospects, and salary-cap flexibility. The real heavy lifting begins now.
The Flames enter the offseason with a strong core of young players, including Dustin Wolf, Zayne Parekh, Matthew Coronato, Connor Zary, and Matvei Gridin. Conroy has said most players are available via trade, but one would have to believe Calgary remains committed to building around its younger core rather than executing a full teardown or chasing quick fixes in free agency.
This summer, Calgary is in a strong position to do a lot of business if they are so inclined. The Flames have a ton of cap space, which they could use in any number of ways, whether it’s to acquire pricey young talent to upgrade the NHL roster or to take on unwanted contracts in exchange for additional assets. The Flames could go either way but combining their cap flexibility with their draft capital would give Conroy many options to improve in the future.
Then there are the veterans who will attract significant interest on the trade market. Forward Blake Coleman will certainly be available and should draw interest given his playoff experience and leadership qualities. He is entering the final season of his current contract, and it’s hard to imagine him having a future in Calgary beyond this season. Ryan Strome is another player who could be moved, but his market may be limited after a poor showing last year. Strome is in the final year of his contract, so he could be moved near the NHL Trade Deadline, but it’s hard to imagine him having much of a market unless he can return to the level of play, he showed in the seasons before last year.
The best pending UFA in Calgary is probably Morgan Frost, who remains an intriguing two-way option at just 27 years old. Frost isn’t going to wow anyone offensively, but he is a consistent 40-point forward and a solid defender. Given his age, he could be an extension candidate in Calgary if they are looking to keep some of their younger veterans in the fray.
Beyond a few pending UFAs, Calgary has some veteran players with term remaining on their deals who could be of interest to teams seeking short-term upgrades. Defenseman Zach Whitecloud, a former Stanley Cup Champion, came to the Flames in the Rasmus Andersson trade and would be sought after if Calgary makes him available. He is just 29 and has two years remaining on his deal, with a cap hit of $2.75MM, making him a strong option for a third-pairing role. Whitecloud won’t score much or wow anyone, but he plays an honest game and can take on the defensive role alongside a more offensively minded partner.
Speaking of defensive defensemen, Olli Maatta is also an option for Calgary to move, as he has two years left on his deal at $3.5MM per season. Maatta is a two-time Stanley Cup Champion who has bounced around the league a lot since the Pittsburgh Penguins traded him seven years ago. He is playing for his fifth team since then but remains a steady presence. He probably isn’t suited for top four duties anymore but can fill in if needed. Maatta played sparingly in Utah last year before being dealt, but after the trade he logged 22:30 minutes a game with Calgary and fared reasonably well, posting two goals and 12 assists in 21 games.
Now, with Calgary in its current position, there isn’t much pressure to win, which should allow management to show some patience and perhaps capitalize on more desperate teams looking to acquire talent this summer. The Flames have a few players on long-term deals who aren’t veterans but may not fit Calgary’s current timeline. Yegor Sharangovich is a name that comes to mind, as he is signed to a lucrative long-term deal and didn’t produce much offence last season. With four years left on his contract at $5.75MM per season, the Flames need more than 29 points from the centre and could look to move him if teams are seeking a struggling player with offensive upside. Sharangovich is just 28, so he could still turn things around, but the last two seasons have been an offensive grind for the Minsk, Belarus, native.
Outside of moving guys out, the Flames have a pile of draft capital and could move up in this year’s NHL Entry Draft or turn picks into prospects or young, NHL-ready players who can play alongside Calgary’s young, NHL-ready prospects. The Flames have some good young pieces in Wolf, Zary, Coronato, and 2024 9th overall pick Parekh, and much of their timeline will hinge on the development of those four players. Zary and Coronato look like future top-six wingers, and they will need to be supported by other young, NHL-ready players to take the next step. Gridin is another intriguing young player in the Flames pipeline who will have a big role when Calgary emerges from this rebuild.
One thing the Flames are unlikely to do is spend heavily in free agency. That doesn’t mean they won’t make any moves, but at this stage of their rebuild, they will be looking to add pieces who can complement their core players beyond this season or serve as short-term options to move for future assets. The Flames could also use their sizeable cap space to bring in older players on bad contracts to grab assets from cash-strapped teams, as the Pittsburgh Penguins have in recent seasons, but it remains to be seen whether they will pursue that.
For the Flames, at the end of the day, this summer is about using their flexibility to set the table for next summer and beyond, when they can begin to push their chips all in around this core, which should see an infusion of young talent in the coming seasons.
Flames Sign Matt Coronato To Seven-Year Extension
Set to become a restricted free agent this summer, Flames winger Matt Coronato has instead put pen to paper on his next deal early. The team announced that they’ve signed Coronato to a seven-year, $45.5MM extension, one that will carry an AAV of $6.5MM per season. PuckPedia reports the breakdown of the deal is as follows:
2025-26: $5MM salary, $2MM signing bonus
2026-27 through 2030-31: $6.5MM salary
2031-32: $6MM salary
The 22-year-old was a first-round pick by Calgary back in 2021, going 13th overall. The Flames took a gradual development strategy with Coronato after picking him, as he spent two years at Harvard before turning pro in 2023. He also didn’t go straight to the NHL as he spent half of his first full professional campaign in the AHL with the Wranglers where he had 42 points in 41 games before making the jump to a full-time NHL spot this season (aside from a two-game AHL stint in late October).
This season, Coronato finished tied with MacKenzie Weegar for third on the Flames in points with behind only Nazem Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau. Meanwhile, his 24 goals put him third on the team in that department as well while he logged 17:35 per night of playing time. That performance was good enough to secure him a spot on Team USA’s roster for the upcoming Worlds but following the results of an MRI, he opted to withdraw from the team as a preventive measure to recover and train on schedule for next season.
While it’s not common for a team to hand out a long-term deal to a player with only one full NHL season under his belt and a total of just 112 career appearances at the top level, GM Craig Conroy has rightfully determined that Coronato is going to be one of Calgary’s building blocks for the present and future. With that in mind, it’s not surprising that getting a contract done was at the top of his to-do list this offseason.
It’s worth noting that Coronato had five years of club control remaining so they could have easily worked out a shorter-term agreement and then looked to lock him up on a more expensive pact down the road that would have kept him in the fold longer. Instead, they’ve opted for the long-term deal now, meaning that Calgary only gets two years of extra control with this agreement while Coronato receives a 10-team no-trade clause in those final two seasons; players aren’t eligible for trade protection in their RFA-eligible years.
With the signing, the Flames now have around $67.7MM in commitments for next season, per PuckPedia, leaving Conroy with nearly $28MM in cap room to work with this summer. Forwards Morgan Frost and Connor Zary along with defenseman Kevin Bahl are their most prominent remaining RFA-eligible players, while winger Anthony Mantha and goalie Daniel Vladar highlight their group of pending unrestricted free agents.
Photo courtesy of Brett Holmes-Imagn Images.
Flames Recall Matt Coronato
With Martin Pospisil‘s injury, the Flames were expected to bring someone up to take his place before tonight’s game against Edmonton. That move has now been made as the team announced (Twitter link) that winger Matthew Coronato has been recalled from AHL Calgary.
The 21-year-old was the 13th overall pick by Calgary back in 2021 and he has been viewed as a key part of their future core since then. He turned pro after two strong years offensively at Harvard where he averaged more than a point per game and this is his first full campaign in the pros.
Coronato broke camp with the Flames in training camp but the offensive success wasn’t there as he managed just one goal and one assist in his first ten games of the season. Calgary then decided to sent him to the Wranglers for more playing time and he has been there since then, save for a brief one-game recall last month. The move made a lot of sense as it allowed Coronato to play a much bigger role, one that he has been accustomed to throughout his career at the lower levels. He found his offensive touch in the AHL, notching 12 goals and 17 assists in 27 games at that level, earning himself an All-Star nod for his efforts.
It will be interesting to see how high the Flames will deploy Coronato in their lineup. Will they try to limit his minutes like they did in his first stint where he came in just under 14 minutes a night or will they put him in a scoring role to see if he can contain his hot stretch offensively? If it’s the latter, he might have more success than he did at the beginning of the season.
Calgary Flames Announce Several Roster Moves
The Calgary Flames made several roster moves today, announcing that the team has recalled defenseman Nick DeSimone from their AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers, while subsequently sending down forward Matthew Coronato. On the injury front, the team also relayed that defenseman Chris Tanev is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury, and will not play in the team’s game tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights.
After placing fellow defenseman Jordan Oesterle on waivers towards the beginning of the season, DeSimone quickly became a stable presence on the blue line, scoring four points in eight games, and averaging just under 13 minutes of ice time per game. As the team regained salary cap flexibility due to the trade of Nikita Zadorov to the Vancouver Canucks, the Flames would recall Oesterle from the AHL, and send DeSimone back to the Wranglers on November 26th.
Much like DeSimone, Coronato has split time this season between the NHL and the AHL, only managing two points in 11 games when playing for Calgary. One of the team’s more notable up-and-coming prospects, Coronato is having quite the season with the Wranglers already, scoring eight goals and 18 points in only 14 games. Even though the team has re-entered the playoff conversation over the last couple of weeks, the Flames are still largely considered sellers heading into trade season, meaning Coronato may earn a full-time spot with the team if the forward core is thinned out.
In the context of the trade deadline picture, Tanev is thought to be one of the more sought-after defensemen on the market, primarily being linked to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Luckily, in terms of his trade value for the Flames, Tanev should only miss a game or two, meaning the return package in any deal shouldn’t be negatively impacted by the injury.
Flames Recall Matt Coronato, Place Jacob Markstrom On IR
The Flames have made a pair of roster moves in advance of their game tonight New Jersey. The team announced that forward Matt Coronato has been recalled from AHL Calgary and in a corresponding move, goalie Jacob Markstrom was placed on injured reserve.
Coronato broke camp with the big club and spent nearly four weeks with them to start the season before being sent down a little more than a month ago. In his ten games with the Flames, the 21-year-old picked up his first two NHL points, a goal and an assist. However, he also struggled at the defensive end to the point where the team decided he’d be better off playing a top role with the Wranglers.
That move certainly worked well for Coronato as he has been quite productive with them so far, notching eight goals and ten assists in just 14 games in his first taste of AHL action. That’s good for the second-best point-per-game average among AHL rookies. Now he’ll get a chance to try to capitalize off that momentum with this promotion.
As for Markstrom, he suffered a fractured finger earlier this week, yielding a week-to-week injury designation. Accordingly, his IR placement is largely procedural at this point as Dustin Wolf had already been brought up on emergency recall to take his place in Calgary’s goalie tandem. The Flames are eligible to backdate the placement to Tuesday if they want but considering he’s expected to be out for weeks, it’ll make no difference whether they do so or not.
Flames Recall Martin Pospisil, Assign Matthew Coronato To AHL
The Flames recalled forward Martin Pospisil from the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers on Friday, a team release states. To make room on the 23-man roster, the team assigned rookie winger Matthew Coronato to the Wranglers.
This is the first NHL call-up for the 23-year-old Pospisil. The Slovak winger could make his NHL debut Saturday against the Kraken if Dillon Dubé is not ready to return from an undisclosed injury. Dubé, who missed Monday’s game against the Stars, has a goal and two assists through nine games and has a -10 rating, the third-worst on the team.
For Pospisil, this is an excellent opportunity after a solid start to his season in the minors. Selected 105th overall in the 2018 NHL Draft, Pospisil currently ranks second on the Wranglers in goals with three and has added a trio of assists for six points in six games. Injuries sidelined him for most of last season, as he only got into 20 games with the Wranglers, recording ten points. Since turning pro in 2019, the bruising, 6-foot-2 winger has notched 22 goals and 40 assists for 62 points in 113 AHL games.
Pospisil signed a one-year, two-way deal worth $775K in the NHL and $90K in the AHL to remain a Flame in July. He’s on his second consecutive one-year deal after his entry-level contract expired in 2022. He’ll be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer and will be due a qualifying offer of $813,750.
Meanwhile, Coronato gets a shot to play significant minutes in the AHL after seeing his minutes dwindle throughout the first ten games of the season. Calgary’s first-round pick in 2021 has a goal and an assist in 13:53 of ice time per game, which should increase to nearly 20 minutes with the Wranglers.
At even strength, the numbers weren’t pretty for Coronato – he was on the ice for just one goal for and nine goals against. That doesn’t tell the whole story, though – his teammates’ on-ice shooting percentage was just 1.9%, and his on-ice save percentage was just .858% – numbers well below the team averages of 5.2% and .887%, respectively.
Flames Sign Matt Coronato
The Flames had made it known that they wanted to sign top prospect Matt Coronato and they have gotten their wish as they announced that they’ve signed the forward to a three-year, entry-level contract. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but Flames Nation’s Ryan Pike reports (Twitter links) that the contract carries a base salary of $925K in each season, has $850K in Schedule A bonuses in 2023-24 and 2024-25, and that the agreement begins this season.
The 20-year-old was a first-round pick by Calgary back in 2021 (13th overall) and he has had two productive seasons with Harvard since then. This season, Coronato had 20 goals and 16 assists in 36 games, good for third on the Crimson in scoring behind Montreal prospect Sean Farrell and Kings prospect Alex Laferriere which helped him earn a spot on the Second Team All-ECAC roster.
Coronato’s output was basically identical to a year ago when he also potted 36 points in 34 games with 18 goals and 18 assists. That performance was good enough to earn him Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2021-22. He becomes the third Harvard player to turn pro this weekend joining Farrell and Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun.
With the contract starting now, Coronato will not be eligible to play in the minors this season so instead, he’ll immediately join the Flames. Calgary is four points out of the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference so it will be interesting to see if they turn to the youngster to see if he can provide a spark offensively or if they’ll keep him in the press box for the time being.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report that the two sides were nearing a deal while Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was the first to say the contract was finalized.
Carolina Hurricanes Name Brock Sheahan AHL Head Coach
Per a team release, the Carolina Hurricanes have named Brock Sheahan the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves.
Sheahan, 38, becomes a professional hockey coach for the first time. He got his coaching start with Notre Dame in 2013-14 as an assistant coach, serving just one season. For four seasons from 2014 to 2018, he spent time as an assistant and associate coach for the College of the Holy Cross before getting a job with the USHL’s Chicago Steel for 2018-19.
The Steel promoted him to their head coaching role during the 2019-20 season and he never looked back. Sheahan guided the 2020-21 Chicago Steel to a Clark Cup championship, working with current NHL prospects such as Sean Farrell, Matt Coronato, Mackie Samoskevich, and Josh Doan.
The Wolves themselves are coming off a Calder Cup-winning season, spearheaded by high-end veteran firepower and elite goaltending. It was enough to get their previous head coach, Ryan Warsofsky, an assistant job with the San Jose Sharks. Sheahan will need to keep the team’s structure intact after an offseason that’s seen a lot of turnover at all spots in the Hurricanes organization.
Team USA Announces 2022 World Juniors Roster
The World Juniors are a little under 48 hours away and slated to kick off their tournament Tuesday night at 10:00 pm ET, Team USA had to make its final round of cuts for the tournament. Today they did just that, USA Hockey announcing its final roster for the tournament, cutting two players to bring the group down to 25. Frank Nazar (CHI) and Aiden Hreschuk (CBJ) were the final two players cut from the USA roster. The final group is as follows:
Goaltenders
Remington Koepple (2023 draft eligible)
Kaidan Mbereko (2023 draft eligible)
Andrew Oke (2023 draft eligible)
Defensemen
Sean Behrens (COL)
Brock Faber (MIN)
Luke Hughes (NJD)
Wyatt Kaiser (CHI)
Tyler Kleven (OTT)
Ian Moore (ANA)
Jack Peart (MIN)
Jacob Truscott (VAN)
Forwards
Brett Berard (NYR)
Thomas Bordeleau (SJS)
Logan Cooley (ARZ)
Matt Coronato (CGY)
Riley Duran (BOS)
Dominic James (CHI)
Matt Knies (TOR)
Carter Mazur (DET)
Hunter McKown (2023 draft eligible)
Sasha Pastujov (ANA)
Mackie Samoskevich (FLA)
Red Savage (DET)
Landon Slaggert (CHI)
Charlie Stramel (2023 draft eligible)
Of note for this USA team, it features 17 of the 25 players who were on the roster for the original 2022 WJC before it was ultimately cancelled and postponed due to COVID-19. Four of these 25, including Berard, Faber, Kleven, and Slaggert, were also on the 2021 team that won Gold. Team USA General Manager John Vanbiesbrouck had this to say about the difficult selection process:
“We had a great week of camp followed by a pair of good pre-tournament games to help us finalize our roster. We had some spots to fill from December and we filled them in well. These are hard decisions, but we believe these are the 25 best players to achieve our goal.”
Team USA’s coaching staff is made up of Head Coach Nate Leaman, Assistant Coaches Grant Potulny, Kris Mayotte, and Steve Miller, as well as Video Coach Theresa Feaster. The team will be captained by Faber, along with alternate captains in Bordeleau and Slaggert. USA will open the tournament with a preliminary round game against Germany Tuesday evening at 10:00 pm ET at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, where the entire tournament is being held.
USA Hockey Names National Junior Evaluation Camp Roster
With the significantly delayed 2022 World Junior Championship just around the corner, national organizations are beginning to announce their preparatory rosters for the tournament. Sweden did so earlier today, and now it’s the United States’ turn.
The eligibility rules for this postponed event are the same, but with the tournament taking place during the offseason, expect a higher-than-normal level of talent released to national teams for the occasion. The full U.S. roster (link here) will have that same luxury.
Highlighting the team’s forward core are San Jose Sharks prospect Thomas Bordeleau, Calgary Flames prospect Matt Coronato, and Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Matt Knies. Knies had the luxury of going to the 2022 Winter Olympics, playing at the most prestigious level of international hockey for the United States. On defense, New Jersey Devils prospect Luke Hughes and Los Angeles Kings prospect Brock Faber will take hold.
The most noteworthy part, though, like Sweden’s, is the amount of 2022-eligible choices who will now be under consideration for the final roster. There’s a strong group of forwards in that regard in addition to Logan Cooley, who made the team the first time around. Also under consideration are forwards Cutter Gauthier, Isaac Howard, Jack Hughes, Cam Lund, Rutger McGroarty, Frank Nazar III, and Jimmy Snuggerud. On defense, there’s Seamus Casey, Ryan Chesley, and Lane Hutson headlining the potential 2022 class.
There’s a very solid mix of youth, high-end skill, and veteran leadership on this United States team, who remain one of the favorites to capture a medal.